Today 88mph and Samsung Electronics Africa have entered into a partnership to provide three lucky startups with a possible placement on the Built For Africa App store, and the potential to be pre-loaded on millions of smartphones across Africa. Samsung will also add marketing muscle to each startup to build and drive consumer awareness.

88mph and Samsung Electronics Africa have entered into a partnership (image: Charlie Fripp)

“88mph is extremely excited about partnering with a company like Samsung, and being a filter for sourcing great products to their platform,” says Kresten Buch, Founder & MD of 88mph. “As an early-stage investor, it’s important to create an infrastructure around the startups that can increase their chances of making it big. Teaming up with great companies is part of our goal to add substantial value to startups beyond investment.”

In addition to the startups being given a premium spot on the Built for Africa store, the partnership also entails potential co-branding pushes, such as Samsung’s recent deals with Universal Music, DSTV, Pana TV and eKitabu – all aimed at growing and driving locally relevant content and services for Africa.

“We are focused on delivering high quality, environment-specific mobile products to our consumers across Africa, backed by locally developed and relevant content,” says Thabiet Allie, Head of Content and Services for Samsung Electronics Africa. “We are thrilled that we can tap into 88mph’s pool of talented entrepreneurs, and give them access to our large user base, while satisfying our consumer needs here in Africa, promote sustainable business, and help drive growth on the continent.”

With Samsung’s extensive distribution network across Africa, this partnership is the perfect springboard for startups that have a product specifically tailored for African consumers, and want to reach consumers across multiple territories in Africa.

“With this partnership, we will be able to attract startups with more mature products or international startups looking to target emerging markets. It’s an extremely rare opportunity to be able to reach millions of your target users in such a short period of time. The fact that it is Samsung who will also market your product alongside theirs, adds credibility, and is basically just wicked cool,” says Sylvia Brune, Head of Partnerships at 88mph.

Product packages that consider the physical and infrastructural demands of Africa, will receive special focus alongside sectors that Samsung is particularly interested including: education, entertainment, & health among others.

To be eligible for this opportunity, startups should apply to 88mph before the 1st of August via their website, 88mph.ac.